This invention relates in general to packaging and more particularly to a package for a product having a laterally directed base and to a method of packaging such a product.
Some manufactured products, which function as components of other manufactured products, occupy relatively little space, yet are quite heavy. When sold to manufacturers of original equipment, these component products are traditionally shipped in bulk containers designed to accommodate them. But a significant aftermarket exists for these component products as well, and when sold in the aftermarket, these component products require individual packaging. Compressors for residential and light commercial air-conditioning systems represent a typical component product. They are manufactured separately from the condenser units in which they are ultimately installed, and while a compressor occupies relatively little space, it is quite heavy, generally weighing from 50 to 100 pounds.
The typical compressor has a hermetically sealed shell which contains the actual compressor mechanism and an electric motor for driving it. The shell is attached to a stamped metal base that projects laterally beyond the shell. When sold for the aftermarket, the compressor is often furnished in a corrugated paperboard box. However, corrugated paperboard will not support a heavy compressor without considerable reinforcement. In traditional packaging, that reinforcement resides primarily in a package base on which the compressor rests. Typically, the package base is formed from plastic or plywood or oriented strand board (OSB).
Packaging for a compressor must pass rigorous tests before compressor manufacturers will accept it. One of the tests involves dropping the package with the heavy compressor in it from a height of one foot ten times such that the package lands on a different corner and exterior panel on each drop, all without inflicting damage on the compressor. Packages containing traditional bases formed from plastic, plywood or oriented strand board have not fared well in these tests. Moreover, packages containing traditional bases are expensive and time consuming to assemble in that they require nuts, bolts and washers for fasteners.
Other packaging contains large quantities of cushioning formed from expanded plastic (plastic foam). This material is not easily recycled and does not degrade in land fills, as does the corrugated paperboard, and is not desirable from that standpoint.